Bloomberg View's Megan McArdle writes about why the U.S. is unlikely to find itself in a economic hole resembling the one Greece now occupies, at least any time soon. She makes several good points about how the U.S. and Greece differ.
One point of difference McArdle leaves out. Greece has a tradition of hard left politics going back at least to World War II. During that war the anti-Nazi resistance in Greece was largely Communist, supported by the Soviets.
At war's end, those active in the Red resistance had a very real expectation of coming to power. President Truman forestalled that outcome with aid to the non-Communist forces in Greece, his first efforts in fighting the Cold War.
The Greek Communists never disappeared, never gave up, never forgot why they hate Germans. All of that is visible today in the current Greek government, and its antagonistic response to an EU effectively led by Angela Merkel ... a German.
The U.S. has no similar hard left tradition, outside of a couple of small enclaves in New York City and Hollywood which produced the likes of the Rosenbergs, Alger Hiss, and a few blacklisted screen writers.
